Sonic Revolution: Project Shadow
by Jif Choosy
Summary: A terrorist cell has revived Shadow, but the new Shadow has plansand an armyof his own. The terrorists want to rule the universe Shadow just wants to destroy it. Kinda like blink182, this is on permenant hiatus until I get a chance to work on it again.
1. Prologue

SONIC REVOLUTION: PROJECT SHADOW  
  
Prologue  
  
There was a beep from the alert behind Shane Steel. His last name wasn't really Steel, but no one he was familiar with his real last name, so he came up with Steel. It sounded cool, and a lot of people had a last name similar to that. Plus, he was a big man, and some people said he was as strong as steel. He turned to face his alert panel. This one was an intruder alert. Someone was approaching the base without verification. "Hansley," he muttered into his PA microphone, "what the hell is that?"  
  
"I see it, sir," responded Hansley. "It's just O'Dell and Franklin coming back. They've got something with them, too."  
  
"Let 'em in." Samson O'Dell and Bert Franklin had been sent out earlier to scout out a falling object he had seen just a week or two ago. He hoped it was something good, like some kind of energy source. Anyway, if they had it, the government didn't. He twiddled his thumbs as he waited. A guy who got bored easily, he soon stopped and began flipping a coin for no apparent reason. After a good twenty seconds of that, he buzzed Neil Hansley again. "Where are those two?" he growled. "Just got in. I sent them up to you, they should be there in a minute or two," Hansley responded slightly cheerfully. "Mmm. Good." He opened his desk and pulled out a CD sleeve. Let's see, what to listen to now... Not enough time to pick one, because there was a beeping outside the door. Those two knuckleheads must be verifying themselves with the security system. It was a retina and fingerprint scan. A few seconds later, the large Samson and gangly Bert walked in. Samson was holding a large sack. "What the hell is that??" Shane asked, almost joyfully. What was it? "Some kind of weapon? An energy source?"  
  
Samson smiled. "Nope. But I can assure you we won't be doing any more grunt work once you see this."  
  
The moment Samson had shown Shane the black hedgehog Shadow, the boss called the best medical and biological team available. This was big. Bigger than big. This was a landmark in Affinity history. The European terrorist group had caused some minor damage in the past few years, but had yet to launch a grand-scale attack. The ultimate life form could change that. The first thing was to specify the cause of death and whatever other damages he had suffered.. It actually wasn't the burning, or the pressure of space, because he had just passed through the atmosphere before he lost his Super form. It was definetly the impact. Almost every bone in Shadow's body was broken. Also, there was significant brain and spinal damage. But that was where they came in. Over the course of a year, the two teams used new skin-like material to replace any skin damage and wiped his mind so that there weren't any broken memories that could cause trauma. The only problem with that was if he saw something he recognized, it could bring any memory similar to that back. Not just what they had wiped, but things he remembered before the Space Colony incident. The odds of that were very slim, though, so they progressed without bringing that point up to Shane Steel. They also used many strength and speed enhancing drugs on Shadow. The idea was to make him absolutely invincible. They also examined his retina and fixed his eyesight-he had been slightly nearsighted. Finally, after examining the spine and brain, they concluded they could improve his reflexes through surgery. And last, but not least, they upgraded his Air Shoes to hold more energy. That, coupled with the neurological wipe made the ultimate life form the ultimate slave. After all the drugs, surgery, and other medical treatments had taken place, the medical team put Shadow in a pod and filled it with a healing acid. This would finalize all their enhancements and heal any other wounds they couldn't close up with surgery. They left him in for one month to completely heal him. One day, Shane Steel decided to survey the scientists, who were monitoring Shadow's progress. "What's taking so long?" he shouted. "The healing and enhancement process is taking longer than expected," the lead scientist insisted. "We'll need another few weeks."  
  
Expecting a torrent of insults, the scientist was surprised when Shane smiled. He stroked his tiny beard for a second, then pulled something out of his back pocket. Something big. Something green. Something shiny. "Could this help?"  
  
The lead scientist's eyes lit up when he saw the Chaos Emerald. "Recon team found one of these near the Silver Mountains. Nice, eh?"  
  
"I think we could find a use for it," laughed the lead scientist.  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen," announced Shane one day to an assembled group of nearly every Affinity member, "what you are about to witness is the weapon that will change the way we look at terrorism. We will be the strongest force in the world!" With this announcement, the crowd cheered and hollered so loudly that they didn't notice Shane Steel leave the podium. When they regained focus, the lead scientist was on stage. "My name is Harold Whiteford. Over the past year, we have been working on this project. After all this time, we figured it was ready for unveiling. We could go into excruciating scientific detail, but we know how much fun that is." The crowd laughed. "Here we go." He motioned to something offstage. Slowly, the curtain behind him rose to reveal the pod. A gasp from the crowd. A couple people shouted, "Good God!" and "Hot damn!" "Let's get this started!" he yelled over the crowd. Harold walked over to the pod and pressed a couple buttons on a keypad. The green acid slowly drained out of the pod. A cloud of steam rushed out of the opening hatch. Once the steam cleared, all that was left was the black hedgehog, standing in an unconscious position. After a few minutes of this, the crowd got frustrated. "He's not doing a freakin' thing!" shouted one man. The crowd began booing. As if that was the right sound, the hedgehog shot its eyes open. The crowd didn't notice it immediately, but soon, that same man yelled, "Awesome!" Shadow examined his surroundings. What was this odd place? There were many people here, all staring at him. Over there was some weird room with a lot of tubes and tools on the tables, as well as an odd gem. Gem=Chaos Emerald. A rush of memory. Space Colony. Maria. Gerald Robotnik. Chaos Control. Eclipse Cannon. He was this close to destroying the world, to fulfill Maria's goal. What had happened in between? It was a blur. In fact, he didn't even remember, so there was nothing to blur. Just a hole. He was getting a little freaked out. Wait-these people must have taken him away! These people were trying to keep him from his goal, from Maria's goal, from the Professor's goal! He must eradicate these people who insisted on getting in his way! He tensed and clenched his fists. "Hey, it's moving!" someone shouted. Then, that same person yelled, "Oh my God!!" as Shadow sped right past him. The crowd couldn't make out the hedgehog anymore, just a blurry black ray. The ray sped throughout the huge base, knocking people and huge objects over. He was trying to find a gasoline tank or pipe. Finally, he found one. He snapped in two like nothing, then found a loose Bunsen burner, turned it on, and threw it near the pipe and sped away. This whole scene happened in the span of three seconds. An explosion rocked the lab and set fires everywhere. Shadow continued to look for methods of destruction and found them in the thousands of bombs and weapons throughout the large base. After setting almost all of them off, he escaped by ramming himself through a wall and running as far away from the exploding base. Within one minute, nearly every member of the Affinity perished in the crumbling base. Anyone within a hundred miles could see the ball of fire that encompassed the base. Slowly walking away from the destruction he had caused was Shadow, new and improved. He had a mission, and he was sticking to it. 


	2. Chapter 1 Home Life Gone Wrong

Chapter 1  
  
Home Life Gone Wrong  
  
Sonic was in a very, very familiar position. Resting, in the sun. But one thing was very, very different. And he was enjoying every minute of it. As he lay on his personal beach chair with his sunglasses over his eyes, he heard someone walk behind him. He would've been a little cautious, especially with his experience with Blade, who kept sneaking up on him before. However, he knew exactly who it was.  
  
"Here you are," Amy chuckled as she put down a plate with a cup of lemonade and a chili dog. Sonic smiled.  
  
"Y'know," Sonic replied, "you don't have to do this for me."  
  
"I know, but I want to."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, but it makes me feel guilty. Like I owe you."  
  
"Well, if you feel that way…" Amy reached for the plate and began to take it away, but Sonic grabbed it as well.  
  
"Oh no you don't," he laughed. "Thanks."  
  
Amy just smiled and took a beach chair of her own, pulled it over near Sonic, and laid down. Sonic turned and grinned back at his wife. She had a pair of jean shorts over her read bathing suit.  
  
Sonic had wanted to take her on a great honeymoon, but Amy said she'd rather settle down after the hectic adventures back on Earth. That was good, since Sonic didn't have too much money. However, the planet of Mobius gave a large gift for saving the planet many times before leaving for Earth, and that, along with a small loan from Blade's fortune that had grown massive over the years, allowed Sonic to buy a small house with a pool. Sonic had wanted a larger one, but Amy was content with this one. But Sonic was a bit frustrated-the planet's government would have been happy to give them a larger place with a lot of fix-ins-a booming sound system, killer flat-screen TV, and floodlights. Still, at least he was away from the Earth. He had grown to resent the place with all his heart, and for good reason.  
  
Amy put her own sunglasses on and held out her hand. Sonic didn't even see it, but he instinctively put out his own hand and gripped hers.  
  
"I invited Tails over today to watch the basketball game," Sonic informed Amy without looking at her. Amy immediately rose her head, though.  
  
"You did?"  
  
"Uh…yeah. Do you have a conflict or something?"  
  
"Well, I had asked Cream to come with me to the folk concert at the park later this afternoon."  
  
"Okay, then you don't have a problem with it?"  
  
"Well, I hoped you would come. You told me last week you'd think about it."  
  
Whoops. She was right.  
  
"Oh yeah…Who's playing there again?"  
  
"A couple folk and country bands."  
  
"Anyone I know?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
That was Amy's way of saying no to a question she didn't want to say no to.  
  
"C'mon, Amy, this is the conference championship! North Jihada and Zeeno! Winner goes to the league title series!"  
  
"What game is it?" Amy inquired. Sonic sighed. He hadn't counted on Amy's surprising knowledge of the sports world.  
  
"Game 5."  
  
"And what's the series score?"  
  
"2-2," he sighed.  
  
"Then it's not an elimination game," she concluded. "So you can miss this one game to see my concert."  
  
"…Okay," Sonic gave up. "I'll give Tails a call."  
  
Slowly and grudgingly, he got up from the chair. But as he walked to the house, he felt a push from his right side. He yelped in surprise, lost his balance, and fell into the pool. He flailed and treaded until he reached the surface to face Amy, smiling devilishly.  
  
"You little…" Sonic chuckled. He splashed water into her face. She shrieked, closing her eyes, and walked back a few steps. Sonic flipped out of the pool, quickly hugged her, and began walking back inside the house.  
  
"I'll get you back for that one," both of them told each other. Sonic shut the sliding door, grabbed one of his jackets from his coat rack, and dried himself off. He walked to the beige colored kitchen and grabbed the wireless phone (not a cell phone), dialing Tails' number. He wasn't there, so he dialed the number for his new workshop. It wasn't finished yet, but Tails figured it was important he had a phone in there because he planned on spending a lot of time rebuilding a lot of his old machines.  
  
"Hello?" answered the young fox.  
  
"Yo."  
  
"Hey Sonic," Tails replied. He seemed a bit tired. "Listen, I don't think I'm up for coming over today…"  
  
"Don't bother. Going to some crap concert with Amy."  
  
Tails snickered a bit on the other end.  
  
"What's so funny?"  
  
"It's already happening."  
  
"What's already happening, Tails?"  
  
"She's already got you doing whatever she wants."  
  
"What's so big about that? It's just one thing."  
  
"Well, that one thing is gonna be more than that soon. She'll be getting you to give up the TV during the game, blowing your afternoons listening to the radio and cleaning the house, visiting her…"  
  
"You sound like you've got a lot of experience with this kinda thing, Mr. Bachelor."  
  
"I do, in a way."  
  
"What you talkin' about, man?" Then, he got it. "Oh man, you gettin' some? Who is it?" Sonic was interested now.  
  
"If I tell you, the whole friggin' country will know by next week."  
  
"You know me, I won't tell anyone."  
  
"But the Mrs. will. Man, that's confusing. What last name did she take? I don't think you have one, do you?"  
  
"Don't try and change the subject, I won't tell nobody, not even Amy."  
  
"Sure you won't."  
  
"C'mon, man!!"  
  
Tails chuckled. He enjoyed torturing Sonic. And he was about to unleash the ultimate diss.  
  
"Alright, I'll tell you. I'm goin' out with-"  
  
But before he got it out, Tails "accidentally" hung up the phone and left it off the hook. He then resumed tightening a bolt on the new Cyclone.  
  
And Tails was right. Sonic was really pissed off. But he decided to wait until later for revenge. Instead, he flopped onto the couch and turned on the TV. He could at least catch the pregame show.  
  
But there was a "Breaking News" story on instead. C'mon, Sonic thought, not another one of these again. They always came on during sporting events. Never during a show or something Amy liked, just the sports stuff that Sonic enjoyed.  
  
"-just relayed from Earth from an undisclosed source near the explosion." The newscaster's picture immediately flashed away to reveal a video clip of a colossal building erupting like a volcano and collapsing to the ground in flames.  
  
"Authorities say that the whole of the Affinity terrorist group may have been killed in this incident, which they are calling right now a gas leak. Apparently, the large number was present for a special meeting, and very few members failed to attend. Currently, there is no definite death count, although it is believed to reach in the tens of thousands…"  
  
Sonic really didn't care about happenings on Earth anymore-in fact, incidents like this almost pleased him now.   
  
Realizing this would probably get rid of the entire pregame show, Sonic flipped off the TV and turned on his massive sound system. "Welcome to the Jungle," began to blare from the huge speakers.  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Leo O'Connell had been watching the same news report as his house with Cassie. The two had recently been engaged and were set to marry in five months. However, both of them were much more interested than Sonic was.  
  
"This was something big," Leo commented.  
  
"No kidding, Leo!" cried Cassie, almost jokingly. "If it got on the news here, it must be big! All those people…"  
  
"They were terrorists, Cassie."  
  
"I know, but…"  
  
"That's not the point. It's bigger than you think. Bigger than this news guy thinks."  
  
"How?"  
  
Leo explained. The Affinity was a well known European terrorist group. The member number had been growing, but there had not been a serious attack attributed to the Affinity for a long time. What kind of big announcement would get the attention of nearly every member and get them to come there? And Leo was almost certain that the gas leak was a cover up because the cops probably didn't have a clue what had happened.  
  
"I think I have to go," he said a bit grimly.  
  
"No. No way," Cassie almost began crying. "You're not leaving. I don't want you dead."  
  
"I'm not going to hunt someone down. I just want to see what's going on, see if I can help out. I won't be gone more than a month…"  
  
But Cassie wouldn't have it.  
  
"I've been waiting for years to see you. Can't you just stay until we get married?"  
  
"If I leave now with the War Machine, I can be there and back in a month. I'll be back in plenty of time. I won't take long, and I'll play it safe." RaGiff had just dropped off the War Machine two days ago.  
  
"You expect me to believe that?" she retorted. She then fell silent, sighed, and closed her eyes. "If you want to go…go ahead. But…" She had no finisher.  
  
Leo nodded. "I should go get packed. I'll leave tomorrow." He walked past her, squeezed her hard, and went upstairs. Cassie shook her hair out of her eyes, fell down onto the couch, and fell asleep. She hoped to wake up in time to stop him in the morning.  
  
At 5:30 in the morning, Cassie was breathing heavily in her sleep when a loud thud awoke her. She sprang up and looked around for Leo. She frantically searched in the various rooms for him, but couldn't find him, so she dashed outside. The driveway was empty. The War Machine was gone. Tears began to well up in her eyes.  
  
"Good luck…Blade…"  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Knuckles knelt beside the Master Emerald. The moonlight and numerous stars shone on the Floating Island. It was good to be back at his true home.  
  
But something was wrong. Ever since he had returned, the Emerald had an odd red glow about it. Especially tonight. It was getting darker and darker. The gem itself was still green, but it emitted a dark red aura. What was going on?  
  
He looked up at it again. What happened? Now it was black. Not just the aura, the whole Emerald was charcoal black. In a single instant, then, it cracked into four large pieces. A massive column of blue light shot from the Emerald and pierced the night sky. Knuckles was blinded for a few seconds. He regained sight for a split second, then passed out.  
  
When he came to again, he saw a beautiful young echidna staring at him. Oh man, not again. He wasn't in the 8.75 dimension again, was he? If he was, he hoped Crystal was still here so he could kick her ass again. Although he doubted it-that blast they shot through her back on Earth used up all the strength of the Master Emeralds. She couldn't have lived through that-could she?  
  
"You are not dead," spoke the echidna.   
  
Great, that's exactly what Crystal had said before.  
  
"My name is Tikal."  
  
Didn't remember that part.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"You know me, Knuckles, and I know you. I am Tikal, the goddess from your tribe of thousands of years ago."  
  
"Wait-Tikal? The one with Chaos?"  
  
"Yes, Knuckles."  
  
As if on cue, a blue puddle next to Knuckles rose into the form of Chaos. Knuckles started a bit, then remembered Chaos was actually on their side. He slowly got to his feet.  
  
"What're you guys doing here again?" he asked.  
  
"We are eternally in your debt for what you, Sonic, and your friends did for us many years ago on Earth. But we bring bad news. There is a disturbance on Earth. The power of the Chaos Emeralds has plummeted."  
  
"I know, we had to use it to defeat-"  
  
"We know of that," Tikal interrupted. "This is a different situation."  
  
Knuckles paused for a minute. "What kind of disturbance?"  
  
"We do not know. But it requires our immediate attention."  
  
"What should I do about it?"  
  
"You must come with us. You must come with us to Dimension 8.75. Don't worry about Crystal," she comforted when he saw Knuckles' objecting face. "Your victory on Earth wiped out all of her forces in that dimension, and the good inhabitants would like to thank you in some way. They have an invitation for you."  
  
"What kind of invitation?"  
  
"I'm afraid the ruler of that dimension would like to make that announcement on his own. Now please, come along with me and Chaos."  
  
Chaos then grew to twice his regular size and spread around Knuckles. He couldn't breath for a while, but soon found he didn't need to, for some reason. His vision turned from pure aqua blue to a vivid, psychedelic color. He knew it very well now.  
  
"Welcome back to Dimension 8.75, Knuckles," Tikal announced. 


	3. Chapter 2 Return to the Afterlife

Chapter 2  
  
Return to the Afterlife  
  
RaGiff was bored stiff. After Leo's intense wedding where some band called Avenged Sevenfold had saved him from a lynch mob, he didn't have anything to do outside of fixing up the War Machine-and Leo had just come by the other day to pick it up. What was that boy doing?  
  
He was shaking his head to the new Black Eyed Peas album in his lab. Heavy beats pulsed from a new sound system he had installed on his own. There were speakers in nearly every room of the lab, including his bedroom and his guest bedrooms. Of course, he hadn't had guests in a long, long time.  
  
Anyway, let's not get carried away. Time to buzz Leo.  
  
"Hello?" a woman's voice on the other end answered.  
  
"Cassie, girl, it's me!" RaGiff replied happily.  
  
"Oh…hi, RaGiff," she softly replied. RaGiff knew something was wrong, but it probably wasn't a good idea to press it if…  
  
"What's wrong Cass?"  
  
Damn his curiosity-and his big mouth.  
  
"Oh…it's nothing…"  
  
Now it was time to play consoler.  
  
"C'mon, I can help you. What's up?"  
  
"It's…Leo."  
  
"Weird…I was just callin' for him-he in?"  
  
"Well…no. He's…going back to earth."  
  
RaGiff's mind was exploding with excitement and questions? Why? Is the War Machine running right? This is awesome! I gotta call him! Great!  
  
"Oh, really?" he said in his most professional voice.  
  
"Yes…he saw the news report…about the Affinity."  
  
"Yeah, I heard about that. Killer."  
  
"Well, he's going to see if he can help out."  
  
"What, is he crazy? He didn't even stop here for an equipment upgrade or nothin'?"  
  
Just a sigh on the other end. That didn't seem to help.  
  
"Is there anything I can do?" he asked politely.  
  
A sniff on the other end, then she spoke.  
  
"Could I…could I stay with you for a while?" she asked quietly.  
  
What, was she crazy? Leo'd kill him!  
  
"Uh…sure, why not?"  
  
"Oh RaGiff…thank you so much. I'm just worried…a bit scared, too."  
  
"Well, wouldn't it make more sense for me to ride o'er there?" RaGiff wriggled with joy at the thought of free access to Leo's pool.  
  
"No…I'm scared to be here. It's a big place, and-"  
  
"My place ain't much smaller."  
  
"Yes, but you've got all those defenses, and the only thing I have is Leo…"  
  
"Well, you got that right." RaGiff took pride in his technological advancements in home security. Nothing could get in.  
  
"So, can I bring my stuff over?"  
  
"Well, what about Leo? Ain't he gonna be a bit suspicious 'bout…"  
  
Cassie nearly laughed.  
  
"RaGiff, you're cool, but I'm not attracted to you. And I don't think I'll ever be…at least not that way."  
  
"Wow, thanks, you know howta make a guy feel so special, y'know? Yeah, you can come this afternoon if you wanna. But just warnin' ya-I just set up speakers in all the rooms, so you might not get too much more sleep here than you will there. Plus, the guest bedroom ain't too big…"  
  
"I'll be fine, RaGiff, don't worry. I'll see you later, okay? I'm going to pack up."  
  
"Sure. Later."  
  
RaGiff hung up the phone. He was a little concerned. Normally, when Leo left on a big mission like this, he'd give him a call. He'd better call the War Machine instead…  
  
But as he picked up the phone, he thought. If Leo really wanted his help, or needed it, he'd probably ask for it. Okay, maybe not-Leo was too proud to ask for it-but still. This may be something he needed to do alone.  
  
First, he turned off the security system for now. No need for one of those huge laser beams to blast her when she walked to the door. Then he turned up the volume on the music. May as well get it out before she came.  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Never thought I'd be here again," Knuckles thought out loud. "And in all honesty, I really didn't want to."  
  
"It's truly peaceful here now that you have defeated Crystal," Tikal insisted. "They all thank you."  
  
"Well, that's good, at least." Then, he realized something. "Wait, who thanks me?" The last time Knuckles was here, the only things he had run into were Crystal, the Minatour, and their minions.  
  
Tikal smiled. "You didn't think Crystal was the only one living here, did you?"  
  
Knuckles chuckled nervously. "Of…of course not."  
  
Then, he thought. What kind of people could live here?  
  
Instantly, a town appeared in front of his face. That was right-you could get around this dimension just by thinking about the place you wanted to go to. And since Knuckles had thought of the people, he got the place they lived in.  
  
The houses looked like tribal huts you saw in movies about primitive tribes. The spirits looked like silver, transparent floating people. One of them turned to look at Knuckles. At first, she looked confused, but after a few seconds, she recognized him and raced over to him.  
  
"Hey, I know who you are!" she hissed. "I'll try to keep you low profile. I'm Lianne. Nice to meet you." The spirit put out her hand. Knuckles slowly placed his hand in hers, and the two shook. She was actually a solid being.  
  
"Nice to meet you Lianne," Knuckles responded. "But…why do you want to keep me low profile?"  
  
"Well, you're the biggest celebrity here since Crystal…and that was because she made herself a celebrity. If they see you, you won't be able to get to your meeting."  
  
"Meeting?"  
  
"Lianne is my partner on the D8 board of law," Tikal explained. "She and I are here to bring you to a meeting with the board."  
  
Knuckles grinned at the thought of some huge reward. Perhaps eternal life? Eternal paradise? Or something better?  
  
"We'd better get going. Think your way to the board place. We'll see you there," Lianne told him. She and Tikal vanished before his eyes. And just after that, the scene in front of him transformed into a very proper looking government hall with a fancy green carpet and various paintings. Tikal and Lianne stood looking at someone in front of them.  
  
"Oh God," whispered the person. He cut between the two women, which seemed to peeve Lianne especially. The man was balding, but had a ring of white hair about him. Of course, it didn't matter if it was white because he was a silver being. "Knuckles the Echidna…one of our greatest heroes. I cannot believe I'm standing in front of you now." He bowed. "I am Harold Franklin. I am the president of Dimension 8."  
  
"I thought it was-"  
  
"More convenient to just say eight," he explained. "Please, follow me. We've been waiting for you."  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
A loud ringing sound. The doorbell. RaGiff pressed a button on his control panel. He heard someone walk in.  
  
"Welcome, lady O'Connell," he joked. "Your room is just down the hall to your right."  
  
But there was no answer.  
  
"Cassie girl?"  
  
He heard footsteps. He whirled to check the doorway into his lab. There was no one there. "Cassie?" he called again, a little nervously.  
  
A swooping noise. He turned again. Still, no one there. What was going on?  
  
Flash. Nothing again.  
  
"C-Cass?"  
  
Instantly, he was pinned on the ground. Before he could make out who it was, he got punched three times. Then, he saw a black…hedgehog? It had a glowing red claw pulsing from its right arm. There were three long blades for claws. RaGiff was being held down by the left hand and the right one rose high above RaGiff's head.  
  
"I…I know…who you are," gasped a stunned RaGiff.  
  
"You shouldn't leave your front door open like that," growled the strange hedgehog. "Bad things could get in."  
  
"You're…You're Shadow…the Hedgehog…" RaGiff felt like he was about to pass out.  
  
The sleek black hedgehog grinned.  
  
"In a way."  
  
All RaGiff saw after that statement was red. And not all of it was the claws. 


	4. Chapter 3 The Missing Link

Chapter 3  
  
The Missing Link  
  
Sonic and Tails were laying down on Sonic's green couch. They were watching a DVD of School of Rock. Tails paused the movie for a second.  
  
"What gives?" Sonic asked.  
  
"I just remembered this great pimp joke I heard," the fox explained. "Here we go. This pimp has three girls. He goes to the first one and says 'Girl, you owe me $50.' She goes, 'No, I only owe you $25.' So he slaps her and says 'Don't correct me, bitch.'"  
  
"Goes to the second girl and says, 'You owe me $100.' She says she only owes him $50. Same thing, he slaps her and says 'Don't correct me, bitch.' Gets to the third one, says 'You owe me $200.' She says she only owes him $100, so he slaps her and goes 'Don't correct me, bitch.' Goes to the fourth one and-"  
  
"Hold on," Sonic stopped him. "You said there was only three girls."  
  
Tails slapped Sonic across the face. "Don't correct me, bitch."  
  
The two laughed. Just as the laughter died down, the phone rang. Sonic zipped over to it and picked it up, quickly checking the call ID. It was RaGiff.  
  
"'Giff!" he bellowed into the phone.  
  
"Uh, Sonic?" replied a quiet female voice on the other line.  
  
"Huh? Who's this?" Sonic asked. As far as he knew, RaGiff wasn't going out with anyone.  
  
"It's Cassie."  
  
"Cassie? What're you doin' at RaGiff's place?"  
  
"It's a long story…Sonic, RaGiff…"  
  
"What?"  
  
"…He's hurt. Real bad. I think he's going to die."  
  
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"Settle down, settle down," boomed Harold. There were a lot of spirits at the table. They must be high ranking or something, Knuckles thought. "Our honored guest, Knuckles the Echidna, has finally come. We now have a special announcement for him." Harold then faced Knuckles, who had been pushed into a seat on the opposite end of the long table by Lianne. "Knuckles, the people of D8 would be honored if you became our city's link with Earth."  
  
Knuckles was confused. Usually, when he was messed up like that and completely out of the loop, he asked quickly and bluntly what the other person meant.  
  
"Say what now?"  
  
"We would like you to live here with us," explained Harold, "and serve as a link between our dimension and yours. Like an ambassador," he continued, seeing Knuckles' still-puzzled look.  
  
Knuckles stared at Harold for a while. Then, he began chuckling. "Oh yeah, that's good Harry. Live here? You kill me, man."  
  
Now it was Harold's turn to look confused. "Do you accept?"  
  
Knuckles stopped his laughing and looked hard at Harold the spirit. "You're serious, aren't you?" Harold slowly nodded back.  
  
The echidna turned his head just as slowly to Tikal and Lianne. "Could I…" He looked back at Harold, who nodded. The board members looked a bit astonished at Knuckles' attitude towards such a great honor.  
  
After Lianne, Tikal, and Knuckles were safely out of earshot, Knuckles began his tirade. "You dragged me up here for a stupid question like that??? Would I like to stay here forever? Hell no, you know that! I have to-"  
  
"At least be polite and give it some consideration!" Tikal hissed back.  
  
"What's the point? This is crazy-OW!"  
  
He had just received a hard slap across the face from Lianne. "What was that all about?"  
  
"I don't know what you're problem is, but this is one of the highest ranks in this whole dimension. Only the most worthy warriors get nominated for it. No one ever offered the position has ever turned it down. I can't believe anyone could be so rude as to laugh at it's offering!"  
  
Knuckles was rubbing his face. "Maybe you don't understand this," he growled, "but I'm the guardian of the Master Emerald. I have a life back on Earth that I'd like to live. I checked my agenda this morning and giving up my life to protect a whole bunch of half dead spirits I've never met before wasn't on it-"  
  
Another slap. At least an attempt. Knuckles grabbed Lianne's hand before it reached his face and forcefully thrust it down. He had a glare in his eyes that could be best attributed to that of an angry lion. Lianne finally seemed to give up. "Good," Knuckles replied to her action. He was about to walk in to the room to decline their offer when someone grabbed his shoulder. He came within an inch of punching out Tikal.  
  
"What if the Master Emerald wasn't a problem?" she asked, unafraid of her near face bashing.  
  
Knuckles thought for a minute. If that wasn't a problem, what would be? Now that he thought on it, he didn't really do anything other than protect the Emerald. And if he was a "link," then that implied he could visit Earth whenever he wanted. Plus, he didn't piss off a whole bunch of spirits who could help in a pinch should he need it.  
  
"How would that not be a problem?" he asked her.  
  
"Get an apprentice. Train them and have them guard it."  
  
Knuckles had a prepared retort to this question he planned to use late into his life when someone may suggest he retire from old age. But for some reason, he couldn't remember it now. And plus, it seemed like a good idea-he was sick of guarding that big green gem. Boring as hell, that would be a good descriptor for it.  
  
"Okay then," Tikal said, taking Knuckles' understanding expression. "Let's go tell them." Knuckles nodded. The two walked in. Lianne, caught a bit off-guard, followed far after.  
  
"My client accepts your offer," Tikal announced as if she was Knuckles' agent, "under a small condition."  
  
Harold looked slightly taken aback, as did the others at the table. "Yes?" he got out.  
  
"I need a week," Knuckles explained, "to find a new guardian for the Master Emerald and train them."  
  
Harold's face showed sheer confusion, but he soon replaced it with an expression of understanding. "Very well. We are honored to have you here."  
  
"One last thing," Knuckles asked. "Tikal told me of a disturbance far from our planet. Could you bring me up to speed on that?"  
  
Harold's face turned grim. "Our defense secretary will inform you on this."  
  
Knuckles' eyes flashed around the room looking for another person to come to the stand. To his surprise, Lianne began to walk towards Harold. She looked around the room, then at Knuckles.  
  
"As you know, massive earthquakes have struck our area recently, a magnitude 6.5 and two near the range of 5.7. These quakes can only be attributed to disturbances related to the Chaos Emeralds in the ground dimension."  
  
"Oh crap!" Knuckles shouted. "The Emeralds! We left them on Earth!!"  
  
The board murmured.  
  
"We…were under the impression you had brought them with you," Lianne said.  
  
"No, we were brought to the hospital while we were unconscious and didn't have a chance to get them before we went to Mobius."  
  
"Very well. We are unsure of that particular disturbance, but you may see it at our labyrinth with your Chaotix powers. But we have received frequent shakes in our labyrinth as well. Our priests have told us that one Leo O'Connell is a threat to all dimensions. We cannot trust him-"  
  
"BLADE!" Knuckles shouted. 


	5. Chapter 4 All Those People

Sorry for lack of updates. This one's a bit harder to write than the last one. But here's another chapter, longer than the last one. And I also would like anime artists for this one as well (I see your hand, Raye, don't worry). You know my address by now.  
  
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Chapter 4  
  
All Those People  
  
The doctors began to load an unconscious and bloody RaGiff into the ambulance parked just outside his lab. Sonic had gotten there over an hour ago, just as Cassie was hanging up the phone from calling 911. Tails showed up a few minutes afterwards and examined the lab.  
  
Well, "examined" was probably the wrong word.  
  
"Look at this place!" he exclaimed when he walked in. "This stuff…it's decades ahead of anything on Earth! Look at this security system! It's got robotic snipers all over the place, and it can be set to stun, burn, kill…and he's got security cameras for nearly every square inch of this place! And that's some sound system he's…"  
  
"Tails, concentrate!" Sonic shouted.  
  
"All right, all right!" He looked around the lab for some blind spot in the security that the intruder could have snuck in through. He tapped away at the keyboard like it was second nature, then went to that particular area of the room to survey it. Finally, after nearly a half hour or 45 minutes, Tails returned to Sonic and Cassie.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Nothing what?" Sonic asked.  
  
"No way anyone could have gotten in here undetected.  
  
"But I got in no problem," Cassie contradicted.  
  
"Hold on, let me see that again," Tails said. He went back to the keyboard and looked around for some kind of mistake he may have made. "Nope, there is no…Wait, hold on! The system isn't on."  
  
"Say what?" Cassie and Sonic shouted together.  
  
"He turned off the security system. Anyone could've walked in."  
  
"What was he, crazy?" replied Sonic.  
  
"It was probably to let Cassie in," Tails explained.  
  
Cassie's hands flew to her mouth in realization. "Oh God...I did it…"  
  
"Cassie, it wasn't your fault, there's no fault here…"  
  
But Tails' reassurance wasn't enough. She almost began to cry, but Sonic stopped her. "Why exactly were you here anyway?"  
  
Her eyes slowly met Tails'. "Well, I was lonely because Leo left and I called RaGiff-"  
  
"Wait-Leo's gone?" Sonic asked incredulously.  
  
"Yes…You heard about that thing on Earth with the Affinity?"  
  
"Oh God…" Sonic moaned. "Don't tell me…"  
  
"He went to help."  
  
Sonic sighed and put one hand over his face. "The guy's insane."  
  
"I know."  
  
"Can you do anything?" Tails asked Sonic.  
  
"Oh no, man. Leo wanna go kill himself, he can do it. I'm not chasing after him."  
  
"But Sonic-"  
  
"Sorry Cassie. I just can't do it." He sighed. "My heart goes out to him, but I wanna relax for now. He'll do fine."  
  
He turned and walked away. "I'm gonna go visit RaGiff." He walked out the door and ran in the direction the ambulance had taken a half hour ago.  
  
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"You know Leo??" Tikal asked after the meeting.  
  
"Yeah, he helped save the planet!" Knuckles hissed.  
  
Lianne covered her mouth. "He's the one who everyone says is dangerous??"  
  
"Apparently…"  
  
"You'll have to look into that when you go back down," Tikal told him.  
  
"Wait-how exactly am I supposed to find a successor this quickly?"  
  
"I don't know. It's your job. I have to stay here."  
  
"Can't Chaos do it?"  
  
"Only while you search for a replacement," she explained. "He is the labyrinth guardian now and can't stay away for too long. Good luck, Knuckles. You'll need all the time in the world."  
  
Chaos appeared once again, rising slowly from a sapphire puddle. It pulled its arms behind it and jumped into Knuckles.  
  
The next thing Knuckles knew, he was back on Angel Island. It was still nighttime. It seemed as if nothing had happened since he left, but he knew he had been gone for at least a couple of hours. Then he saw the tiniest ray of sunlight showing over the horizon. It must be dawn.  
  
Knuckles was about to turn to ask Chaos to guard the Emerald when he saw it standing guard already by the shrine. Knuckles nodded towards it, and Chaos nodded back.  
  
The echidna looked down below Angel Island. It was time to find a replacement.  
  
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"You don't understand, man," Sonic pleaded with one of the doctors. "This is one of my best friends we're talking about."  
  
"I'm sorry, but we can't let you in now," explained one of the nurses. "Visiting hours are over. You may come tomorrow."  
  
"WHAT? It's 5:00 in the afternoon! What kind of visiting hours do you idiots have??"  
  
"Mr. Sonic, I'm afraid I will have to call security if you don't leave now."  
  
Sonic was about to protest, but thought better of it. No need to get himself in trouble here, too.  
  
"All right then. See ya tomorrow." He plodded down through the hallway, took the elevator, walked out of the building, and began running home.  
  
He got home and began explaining things to Amy, but apparently, Cassie had already called her. The two hugged and Amy reassured Sonic things would turn out okay Sonic responded by telling her he would be going to bed early that night-more specifically, he was going now.  
  
"But what about dinner?"  
  
"Not hungry. I don't mean to blow you off like this Amy, but it's just…RaGiff saved my ass big time back on Earth. We'd probably still be stuck there, and I'd be on death row, if he hadn't helped out. To see him like that…and to not be able to do anything about it…I'm sorry. I'll see you tomorrow."  
  
He walked upstairs and fell right asleep.  
  
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Sonic woke up on Wednesday late. It was 10:00 when he finally got out of bed and got something to eat.  
  
"I'm going over to the hospital to check on RaGiff," Sonic told Amy that morning, crunching on an apple.  
  
"I thought you went last night," she replied, pouring a glass of orange juice for herself.  
  
"Nope, wouldn't let me in. You wanna come?" He took another bite and tossed it towards the trash can. It bounced off the refrigerator side and in.  
  
"I'll meet you over there, okay?"  
  
"Okay. Love you." He kissed her quickly and sped out the door to the hospital. He was running through the woods and turned a corner when…  
  
"OOMF!"  
  
Sonic and Knuckles rammed into each other and fell backwards.  
  
"Ugh…This is why I tell you to slow down sometimes," Knuckles groaned once he got up.  
  
"Sorry man, I'm in a hurry."  
  
"Where you goin'? Last time I checked you wanted to live a carefree life of responsibility free pleasure."  
  
"You know what happens whenever I try that. RaGiff's in the hospital, and they don't know if he's gonna make it."  
  
"For real? Aw man, this just makes my day. I needed to tell you something anyway."  
  
"Follow me and tell me on the way."  
  
"Not right now, I'm goin to visit Mighty and the crew. It's a long story. I'll just tell you tomorrow if you're in a hurry."  
  
"Okay then. Keep in touch, man." The two ran off.  
  
"I'm glad you made it," Cassie said when Sonic arrived. The two hugged. "Tails and Sandrine are going to be here soon."  
  
"Sandrine?" Sonic asked. "Who the…Aw man, he told me he had someone, that must be them."  
  
Cassie nodded with a slight smile. "They've been going out for a month or two now." She nodded to RaGiff. "He almost got up a while ago, but he hasn't spoken a word yet."  
  
"You got in touch with my man Leo yet?"  
  
"No, not yet. All I get is a message that says his mailbox hasn't been set up yet."  
  
"Lazy little…"  
  
"Hey," whispered a soft voice by the door.  
  
"Tails!" Sonic responded. Next to Sonic's fox friend was a dark violet echidna.  
  
"This is Sandrine," Tails explained after he slapped Sonic five.  
  
"Nice to meet you," Sandrine said a bit timidly. "I've heard so much about you…You're like a living legend."  
  
"What?...Oh, c'mon, I'm not that great." Sonic had rarely experienced someone who treated him like some big-shot celebrity. It was kind of odd.  
  
"This is Cassie," Tails said, holding one hand on Sandrine's shoulder and holding another in Cassie's direction. Cassie waved back.  
  
"Whoa!" someone shouted from outside. "What the hell?"  
  
Tails looked out the door. "There's something on TV," he observed. "Looks like some special news report. I'll go check it out. Maybe it's more on that attack."  
  
Tails quickly ducked out of the room. He was gone for a good few minutes. Sonic talked with Sandrine, getting to know her. For an echidna, she was pretty cool-and hot too. Naturally, he couldn't tell Amy that, but Tails had made a good pick.  
  
As if on cue, just as Sonic thought of his fox friend, he walked back into the room, a sour look on his face.  
  
"What's up?" Sonic asked flippantly.  
  
Tails' face slowly rose. "The Earth…has been destroyed."  
  
Cassie's hands flung to her mouth. Tails continued. "The Eclipse Cannon was fired. It hit the south pole. If it didn't shatter the earth on impact, the flooding would've killed everyone anyway."  
  
"Oh god," Cassie sobbed, her hands now covering her whole face.. Sonic moved to comfort her. He turned back. "Tails?"  
  
The fox flipped his arms up and sighed. "It's gone." 


	6. Chapter 5 The Art of Subconscious Clai...

Chapter 5  
  
The Art of Subconscious Clairvoyance  
  
"Man…Leo…" Sonic sighed.  
  
"That's not the biggest deal either," Tails told them. "This is going to cripple the universe."  
  
"How?"  
  
"With the Earth gone," Tails explained, "the whole universe is going to collapse on itself and plunge into the sun."  
  
"WHAT?" all members their cried.  
  
"Hey…cantchy'all keep it down?" muttered RaGiff.  
  
"'Giff!" Cassie cheered. RaGiff's face was the only thing exposed. The rest was wrapped in body cast or under the sheets.  
  
"Man oh man, what happened?"  
  
Sonic's face fell. "You're never gonna believe this…"  
  
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"C'mon guys, what are you doing anyway?" Knuckles pleaded.  
  
"Knuckles, we have a good gig going here," Vector explained. "Plus, in all honesty, that whole alter dimension story isn't something we're inclined to believe."  
  
"You've gotta be kidding!" Knuckles cried. "You still don't believe me on that???"  
  
"Well…no," Mighty admitted.  
  
The phone rang.  
  
"Call!" shouted Charmy. He zoomed over to the phone to pick it up. Vector watched the bee zoom faster and faster to the phone, then picked it up just before Charmy reached it.  
  
"Chaotix Detective Agency at your service, we never turn down work that pays, Vector speaking." A grumbling Charmy floated away.  
  
"I told you before you should hang with us at the detective agency," Mighty said.  
  
"And I told you many times before I can't leave the Master Emerald…at least not without someone to guard it."  
  
"But now you're getting a replacement."  
  
"But I'm getting it because I'm going to the 8th dimension."  
  
Mighty tossed his hands up in the air and shook his head. "Whatever man."  
  
"Hey," Knuckles started, "where's Espio?" He had just noticed the purple ninja chameleon wasn't in the room.  
  
"Training. Where do you think?"  
  
Knuckles nodded. He should have known.  
  
Suddenly, the ground shook like crazy. Vector dropped the phone, and Charmy accidentally hit a wall. Knuckles and Mighty held onto each other to stay up. Then, the roof crumbled and rained stones down on the crew. Finally, Knuckles and Mighty fell.  
  
"Oog," Knuckles groaned, rubbing his head. Instantly, a bright blue light flashed from the sky, spotlighting Knuckles. A large wave emitted from the echidna, sweeping the room and temporarily blinding Vector, Mighty, and Charmy. It took them almost a minute to regain sight, and when they did, there was someone missing.  
  
"Red?" called Mighty.  
  
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"Now what???" moaned Knuckles as he followed Tikal and Lianne.  
  
"Something's gone really wrong. Something that will destroy the universe if something isn't done. Your search for an apprentice will have to wait."  
  
Knuckles rolled his eyes. "What now? Is Sonic a bad entity because he looked at one of you the wrong way?"  
  
"Only you can see."  
  
"Say what?"  
  
"Shh!" hissed Lianne. "We're here."  
  
Knuckles looked ahead to see the old labyrinth he remembered from his last gig here.  
  
"Where's Chaos?" he asked, then he immediately added "Never mind," realizing how stupid that last question was. Lianne looked at him with a confused look on her face, then spun back to see the entrance. "Go in and take a right. Go all the way down and you'll enter a bright green room. Just kneel down."  
  
"And…?"  
  
"That's all," Tikal told him. "Everything else will just flow with you."  
  
Before Knuckles could ask what the hell that meant, they disappeared. Actually, Knuckles disappeared and reappeared in the first room of the labyrinth. He just remembered that whole "a simple thought got you anywhere" thing. He turned right and sprinted most of the way until he was a few steps from the green room. He slowed down to a slow, slow walk, nervous about what could possibly happen in the room. He finally took one large step in and shut his eyes, waiting for something to happen. Then he reopened them. All he saw was the glimmering green wall again. Oh yeah, he had to kneel. He did so, then collapsed.  
  
His vision became a rush of images that, while consciousness, he would have no clue what was happening. But his mind was in another state, a state only reached through the Chaotix power of the Master Emerald. The images all flashed so fast not even the subconscious state could register them before they were gone. But within a minute, he woke up and sprinted out of the labyrinth, forgetting that he could just think his way out.  
  
"You are never gonna believe this," he gasped, "but Shadow is back. And something big's gonna happen. Real big."  
  
"Shadow? The ultimate life form?" Lianne asked.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"But what's the big thing?" asked Tikal curiously.  
  
"Blade…He's going to destroy us all."  
  
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"Man, my head hurtin' so much, man," RaGiff told them all, "but what little fox man says is right on. We ain't got more than a day or two, if that. Unfortunately…it's too late. At least for our man Leo…Sorry Cassie!" he cried when he saw Cassie's tears. "I'm real sorry, girl! But if he was anywhere near the planet, let alone on it, he'd have been sucked in by now."  
  
"Let me be the judge of that," said Tails boldly. He took his laptop out of his backpack and clicked away on one of his custom GPS programs. After a few minutes, he had a very happy look on his face that quickly turned to confusion.  
  
"I have good news. The first thing is, we're in a separate galaxy from Earth. We won't be affected by Earth's being destroyed."  
  
The group smiled. "What's the bad news?" Sandrine asked.  
  
"Not as much bad as it is weird beyond reason. The Space Colony ARK is currently in orbit around Mobius with Morphos, Little Planet, and Chrostoff."  
  
"How can that be?" asked Cassie.  
  
"That's what I'd like to know," Tails told them.  
  
A knock on the door.  
  
"More guests!" cheered RaGiff. He quickly moaned in pain as he tried to get up.  
  
Amy walked in. "Hi guys." She and Sonic hugged. "How are you doing, RaGiff?"  
  
"Oh, I'm makin' it. Don't worry."  
  
"I…I heard about the Earth…"  
  
"Tails just clued us in," Sandrine explained, "that it wouldn't get us messed up. But the Space Colony…Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Sandrine."  
  
Amy was confused until she quietly jerked her thumb at Tails and winked. Amy winked back. "I'm Amy." She did the same with Sonic, and Sandrine winked back as well. Then Amy crossed her fingers. Sandrine's eyes widened and she gave the thumbs up sign.  
  
"Uh…right…" Sonic and Tails said at the same time, perplexed.  
  
"That still leaves us with why the Space Colony is in orbit around THIS planet," Sonic wondered aloud. Suddenly, the ground began to shake. RaGiff bobbed up and down yelping in his hospital bed. After a few seconds, the fire alarm and sprinklers went off. Amy yelped, and everyone covered their face-everyone except RaGiff.  
  
"Evacuate the building immediately," the P.A. system blared. "This is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill."  
  
"What the hell?" shouted Sonic over the din caused by the alarm and the screaming from outside.  
  
"A bomb! A bomb!" someone cried, running past RaGiff's hospital room.  
  
"Guess we know why now," Tails murmured.  
  
"I'm gonna go check it out," Sonic explained to them, and before anyone could protest, he was gone.  
  
"Hey, look outside!" exclaimed Cassie. She pointed to something outside. The group assembled near the window.  
  
"Hey, can't see through ya!"  
  
"Sorry RaGiff." Cassie and Tails moved out of the way so the immobilized RaGiff could see.  
  
There, on the highway outside the hospital, was Shadow, taking out anyone who came out of the building. And next to him, fighting off other people was…Shadow?  
  
"Hey, there's two of 'em!" shouted Sandrine.  
  
"Make that four," corrected Tails. "There's two more on the other side of the road."  
  
A black shadow swooped from above the window down near the entrance. He was holding something that looked like a remote bomb.  
  
"Five??" asked Amy, getting a bit faint.  
  
"That's the one!" RaGiff called. "The one with the claws-that's the one who done this to me!"  
  
But the group was more concerned with why there were five Shadows. One looked like the normal Shadow. Another had red neon claws and a sleeker body. A third one was shooting lasers from its hands, a fourth was swinging two neon green swords that appeared to be attached to its arms, and a fifth one was holding another glowing neon weapon, a blue staff.  
  
"What in God's name is going on?" asked Tails. Hearing this from one of the two geniuses in the room threw the others. They all turned to RaGiff.  
  
"Hey, don't look at me like I set them off on you or somethin'. This is all new to me."  
  
"It just got weirder," Sandrine told them. "Look!"  
  
Outside, a bomb fell and exploded right next to one of the Shadows. All looked up to see a large jet fighter dropping bombs on the Shadows below.  
  
"Leo?" asked Cassie.  
  
"Naw," RaGiff told her, "that ain't the War Machine."  
  
"All civilians," a radio altered voice called from the ship, "please go back to the building or find another place to hide. One of these things destroyed my planet, and I won't let it stand!"  
  
"Wait, I recognize that mark on the ship…" Tails observed. Just then the group noticed a symbol on the zooming fighter that resembled a biohazard sign. Then, Tails' eyes bulged in shock.  
  
"That's an Affinity fighter!" 


	7. Chapter 6 No Smoke and Mirrors

Sorry-I'm going through serious writer's block, so I'm sorry for the lack of updates. I'll have more time now, so hopefully this will hold you over.  
  
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Chapter 6  
  
No Smoke and Mirrors  
  
"Some people just don't know when to give up," Sonic sighed after recovering from the shock of seeing five Shadows. He instantly picked out the one he knew and ran up to him. "Hey man, I thought you were on our side!"  
  
Shadow stopped running and turned to face Sonic. Shadow obviously recognized him, but Sonic had the feeling he wasn't happy to see him.  
  
"Blue hedgehog…Your planet Earth wasn't enough of an example, was it?"  
  
"Never liked the place much," Sonic retorted. "Too obnoxious."  
  
Shadow grinned. "You don't get it, do you? I am the ultimate force, and I will accomplish what Maria has asked me to do."  
  
Oh great, he was talking about "Maria" again.  
  
"Didn't she break up with you yet?" Sonic joked.  
  
Bad move.  
  
Shadow's eyes flared with anger. He began speaking not in his usual calm, mysterious voice, but in a much more evil and powerful warped voice.  
  
"Do not mock my purpose! All will bow before my strength! Attack!"  
  
The four other Shadows stopped their rampaging and appeared in front of Shadow, ready for battle. The real Shadow folded his arms and stared at Sonic. Sonic still felt calm and collected.  
  
"Five people, as usual for a gang," Sonic chuckled. "Of course, you need five people for a street gang, cuz each of them has a fifth of a personality."  
  
Shadow sneered.  
  
"I have business to attend to," Shadow crooned in his usual voice. He looked to the sky as if trying to find something. "Meanwhile, you can have fun with my friends. I've been telling them all about you. I'll probably won't be seeing you later." He then pulled out his trademark gem-the green Chaos Emerald. "Chaos CONTROL!"  
  
In a blaze of jade green, Shadow vanished. The four other fighters took his place.  
  
If his previous statement was correct, Sonic would only have to deal with 4/5 of a personality. And a whole lot of unknown power.  
  
Just then…  
  
"We're coming, Sonic!!!!"  
  
Sonic whirled around to see Amy, Tails, and that girl Sandra running to his side.  
  
"No way you're going into this without us," Tails assured him. Sonic smiled. Amy and Sandra nodded too.  
  
"Sonic the Hedgehog," called the radio again from above. The fighter was still circling around the hospital. "I've got your back if you need me."  
  
Sonic still wasn't sure if he should trust this new guy or not, but he nodded anyway. In this situation, he needed all the help he could get.  
  
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"We already know he's going to cause trouble," Lianne told Knuckles, "but what exactly is going to happen??"  
  
"I…I don't know…All I know is that the universe is going to be destroyed if he isn't…"  
  
Silence. Knuckles, knowing Blade well, couldn't bring himself to say it.  
  
"…killed?" Tikal suggested, not in an offending way.  
  
Knuckles slowly nodded.  
  
"He's a friend of yours?" Lianne wondered. Knuckles simply looked at her and she knew the answer.  
  
"What can we do about it?" Tikal asked.  
  
Knuckles thought about it for a long while. After almost a full minute, he replied, "I'll tell you what I'm gonna do about it, I'm gonna find my apprentice."  
  
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Well, this was a tough draw.  
  
Amy was fighting off the Shadow with the staff. She dodged the swinging blue laser and tried to punch it back, but she knew without her hammer, which was still in her room, she wasn't much help.  
  
"A little help here?" Amy cried as she ducked under another swing from the staff.  
  
"Bring all the help you want," growled the Shadow. "I'll take them all."  
  
"Hope you're ready to back that up," laughed a voice from behind them.  
  
Amy whirled around just in time to see a young man with a laser rifle pump shots towards the Shadow with a staff. An obviously surprised Shadow did a barrel roll to dodge the blasts. It got up and snarled at the man.  
  
"That ship wasn't effective enough, so this seemed like a better choice," he explained to Amy. Before Amy could ask what the hell was going on, he ran ahead to take out the staff Shadow. Amy decided to take this opportunity to get to her car and get her hammer.  
  
When she got to the car, though, she screamed as she saw Sonic skid past her. He had just been knocked away by the Shadow with two swords. She turned and, seeing the sworded Shadow still charging towards them, landed an impressive roundhouse kick, sending Shadow skittering across the asphalt. He got up instantly, angrier than anything, and Amy decided it was best to get in the car.  
  
It was a red Ford Focus, a small car-but Sonic normally didn't take a car, so it was a nice, fuel efficient vehicle. And, when pushed to its limit, it could go pretty damn fast.  
  
She got in, started the car, and gunned the engine. Just seconds into the trip, she screamed and almost hit a lamppost when that two-sworded Shadow with equally green eyes jumped onto the hood of the car glaring at her. He swung one of his sword-arms and shattered the windshield. He was about to plunge the other one into Amy when Sonic came jumping out of nowhere and used a flying kick to knock the Shadow away. Amy was completely frozen in fear until she came to her senses and swerved to avoid Sandra, then turned back onto the road, leaving deep dark skid marks on the grass in front of the hospital. Relieved to be out of the hellhole, Amy floored it and headed home.  
  
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"I can't just let them go out there and me do nothing," Cassie sighed in RaGiff's hospital room. "I have to do something!"  
  
"That's a great idea!" RaGiff replied in mock inspiration. "Just run on out there and get yourself blown up or something. That'll be a huge help!"  
  
"Y'know something RaGiff?" Cassie began, but RaGiff stopped her.  
  
"Look, I got somethin' you can use. It's back at my lab, but if you can get yourself over there quick, you can use it."  
  
"You've got my attention."  
  
RaGiff, in all his pain, smiled.  
  
"It's a mech kind of suit. You get in this robotic like shell, and it's got all sorts of fun weapons and gadgets to use. I haven't done a live test or nothin', but theoretically, it should work like clockwork."  
  
"You mean, you've never used it?" asked Cassie.  
  
"Never needed to. In fact, I was thinkin' I'd do it tomorrow with my man Leo…oh, man, I'm sorry," he tried to console as he saw sorrow sink into her expression.  
  
"Where is it in your lab?" she suddenly replied with such sternness that RaGiff could think of nothing sarcastic to say. He simply told her it was in the garage's secret room behind the workbench and she stormed out of the room.  
  
"Guess it'd be wasted time to say be careful?" RaGiff commented on her way out.  
  
Cassie responded by slamming the door shut.  
  
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Tails just bent around a laser and swept the laser Shadow's legs from underneath him with his tails. Sure he'd spent a lot of years working more on his technological stuff, but he hadn't forgotten how to fight.  
  
"Bring it on, Shadow! I'm waaaaaaiiiiiting!" Tails taunted.  
  
Shadow didn't look fazed at all. Instead, he held out his hands and fired off orange lasers like a machine gun. Tails knew all those days spent playing Dance Dance Revolution at the arcade would pay off eventually, and it certainly helped now, because his extra quick feet allowed him to dodge almost every single laser shot.  
  
Almost.  
  
"ARRRGGH!" he cried. He had been hit in the chest. Tails staggered, trying not to show weakness, but he didn't do a good job of it. The Shadow fired two more shots-one of them drilled him in the left leg. He hobbled about looking for some kind of support, but it appeared that Amy had left. He saw another, unfamiliar car drive away-he figured it was one of the doctors abandoning ship. Thanks for all your help, Tails thought. When I pay my next health insurance bill, I'll be thinking of you.  
  
Shadow realized Tails was in no condition to fight, and became cocky. He began to play with the fox, firing a shot here and there with enough leeway so Tails could get away. After a few minutes of this, Tails was thoroughly exhausted, and he collapsed.  
  
The laser Shadow turned the steel cuffs on his wrists for comfort, walked over to the barely breathing fox, and held one hand out over him, a golden ball of energy glowing in his hand ready to decimate him. Then, he looked once more at the fox's face. Somehow, he felt compassion. He felt as if he had known the fox from somewhere, and for some reason felt either pity or love for the fox. He put his arm down and turned away. Of course, he could never admit this moment of weakness to himself.  
  
"Not worth the kill," he murmured to himself. "Not worth the effort." Instead, he rushed off to help the clawed Shadow with Sonic.  
  
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Tikal and Lianne were thoroughly confused and thought Knuckles had gone flat out insane, but Knuckles knew if there was trouble about, it would come to him. In the meantime, he would have to find his apprentice to guardianship of the Master Emerald.  
  
But first, he had to visit RaGiff.  
  
He touched down back on the Floating Island, which seemed odd to Knuckles-shouldn't he be back on Carnival Island? Whatever-less running for him.  
  
As he jogged through the woods, he thought he heard something going on-not a specific sound, but more of a scuffle. Once he broke through the last row of trees, though, he saw what all the commotion was about.  
  
And remember that part where Tikal and Lianne thought he was completely insane? Knuckles was beginning to believe it, too.  
  
There were four black hedgehogs with glowing energy weapons attacking the hospital. At least they were-but, as usual, Sonic and the crew had come to the rescue. Now he felt really guilty about not coming to visit RaGiff in the first place. RaGiff was his good friend, he'd help save their skin too many times to count back on Earth, and he was a real funny guy anyway-that is, of course, until he got on the stage for stand-up…  
  
Okay, he was just delaying the inevitable question-Why in God's good name was there four black hedgehogs that looked kind of like Shadow the Hedgehog, but none that actually were him?  
  
Time to find out the only way he knew. He climbed up one of the taller trees in the forest and looked upon the battle. Sonic was really being overworked, handling two of them at once. Both of them looked stronger and faster than the original Shadow, and they both had those glowing weapons, too. It looked like that hospital was higher up-he could probably get a better angle of attack there if he could sneak over there without attracting attention.  
  
"Beautiful view, isn't it?"  
  
Before Knuckles could respond to the cold, unforgiving voice he knew so well, he was struck across the head by the edge of something hard, something steel. He fell to the ground in a moment, but it seemed like forever. He only had one thought.  
  
"Why, Leo…why'd you do that?" 


	8. Chapter 7 The Skins of Their Teeth

Folks, I'm back. After a year and a half or so hiatus, I have gone back to the drawing board and started writing again. All I hope is that you're still interested in what's going on. Feedback is welcome and even hoped for. Hope you enjoy it. -Jif 

Chapter 7 The Skins of Their Teeth

Two Shadows were now on him-the one with lasers had made his way over. Sonic knew that someone had been beaten. They couldn't keep this fight up. He'd be able to handle one of them, maybe a second. Both of them at once was going to be hard, though, and if anyone else got beat, he couldn't take them. So he decided on a plan of action-try to ward off the two Shadows in hopes that he could wear them down and take at least one of them out. If anyone else got taken out, he'd order a retreat.  
Retreat. There's a word he never wanted to utter, ever. He didn't have to use it once during his previous adventures, but this surprise attack might be too much for him and the rest of the guys. Dammit-where was Blade when you actually needed him?  
The two Shadows looked at each other for about a tenth of a second, then took off after Sonic. With both flanks covered, Sonic tried darting between them.  
Nothing doing. The laser Shadow had held up at the last second and blasted Sonic away. The second Shadow slashed him as he was shot away, and Sonic was sent flying across the courtyard, his skin burning. In searing pain, he scrambled up and began running back to his two foes to try and run off the pain.  
"Persistent," murmured the laser Shadow.  
"Stubborn, really," replied the clawed one. "Stay back again. Form LS-5." He rushed ahead to meet Sonic.  
Sonic bent back and left to dodge the charging Claw, but he quickly had to jump to avoid the lasers from Laser. He was met mid-air by Claw, who slashed him back to the ground. Sonic barely rolled away from another laser.  
He tried his best to duck around Claw's attacks and get a punch in, but occasionally he had to make another quick move to avoid a laser. Sonic was beginning to see the strategy—Claw kept Sonic moving, but Laser fired off from afar to keep him from attacking back. The solution seemed simple enough-take out Laser and then deal with Claw. Simple in practice, that is.  
A moment later, it was even more complicated. The Shadow with the staff whacked him from behind as Sonic jumped to avoid another slash. He was sent right towards Laser, who blasted him back in the other direction like a rag doll. Claw cut him down to the ground in mid air.  
Sonic twitched a bit before getting back up, much slower this time. Three on one? What the hell had happened? Where was Amy going? Tails? Sandrine?  
Where was that guy in the plane?  
That answer came when a rifle pumped rounds of lasers into the throng of Shadows. They all leapt backwards, but Staff got hit in the foot, and when he landed he lost his footing and fell. An obviously embarrassed Staff got back up quickly and charged Sonic, looking to restore his lost pride. Sonic responded with a jumping kick to the head that sent Staff back to the grass. He got back up again, but this time held up.  
Sonic took the opportunity to look for his help. Amy was gone. Tails was lying unconscious on the ground about twenty feet away. Sandra appeared to be struggling to hold off the Shadow with two swords. And the laser Shadow was charging the man from the plane. That left him with Claw and Staff.  
The Ford Focus pulled up in the road again, and Amy hopped out with her hammer. She ran back into the fray, and Staff looked ready to go after her again, but Claw grabbed his arm.  
"No," he said. "Not worth it. Finish him, then we'll take her."  
Staff nodded and drew his staff to spear Sonic. But a massive eruption of smoke and fire drew his attention away. Sonic was experienced in fighting, though, and he knew not to look away. He hammered Staff with a series of punches, one which knocked his staff away, then finished him with a roundhouse kick. Staff was out like a burst light bulb.  
Sonic then turned to find a mech about half the size of the one he took on back on Earth. It was blue and equipped with many long range missiles and a short range laser. In a crater near the mech was a bloody laser Shadow. He was more than unconscious—that hedgehog was dead.  
"Guess that thing's on our side," said Sonic sarcastically.  
Now it was the Shadows' turn to asses the situation. Staff was out, Laser was gone for good, and the enemy's numbers were increasing.  
"I miss anything?" cried Knuckles. The echidna swooped down and knocked the clawed Shadow across the head. Claw rolled back up and saw the numbers. Knuckles ran off to help Sandrine with Swords, but Claw was still dangerously outnumbered at this point. The blue hedgehog, the pink one…and that mech was just too wild.  
As if on cue, another package of missiles exploded out of the LRM cannons. This was too much.  
"Retreat!" screamed claw Shadow. And he, Sword, and Staff were immediately teleported away in three separate columns of green.

Shadow walked towards his comrades.  
"What happened down there? You were in good shape?"  
"Well...erm...sir…" stammered Sword, but Shadow held up a hand.  
"I'm not interrogating you. I just want to know. We need to plan for these "heroes." They're going to be a pain in the ass if we can't find a way to stop them."  
"They have a mech," Claw quickly replied. "Lots of long range power."  
"And a new ally-an old member of the Affinity, it appears," added Sword.  
"What happened to him?" Shadow asked, pointing to Staff.  
"Sonic," the two said in unison.  
"And the mech killed Laser?"  
"Yeah," said Claw.  
"You mentioned its long range capabilities," Shadow continued. "Did you see any of its short range attacks?"  
"No," Sword said.  
"We'll have to test them out sooner or later. You said something about the Affinity?"  
"Yeah," confirmed Claw. "He showed up in that jet we saw earlier. He's no one to fool around with either."  
"I'll deal with him later. The Cannon is at 75 now. It will be fully charged in a day or two, but I can't keep using the Chaos Emeralds to bail you out of these situations or it will take longer. Meanwhile, I have another friend for you. It should help replace Laser." Another Shadow clone quietly walked into the room of the Space Colony that the hedgehogs were meeting.  
"This is Beam. He has very similar capabilities to Laser, but he can do much more. He can make his lasers home in on targets, make them long, solid beams, and is much better at hand to hand combat. He should help you out greatly."  
"Glad to be of service," chuckled Beam.  
"You four will all need to go back to the Practice Room to make up some new maneuvers to incorporate Beam. It shouldn't be all that difficult since he can do pretty much anything Laser could, God rest his soul. But before you go, I want you to go look behind that fuel tank and tell me what you find."  
Hearing Shadow call out his hiding place, Blade ran out from behind it, ready to cut them all to shreds. But he stopped when he saw Beam holding his hand out, charging a yellow laser ball. His stopping gave the other four Shadows time to surround him.  
Time to use something he had just learned. He leaned over, acting as if to put his sword down, then pierced the metal floor of the Space Colony with it. Four columns of fire sprouted from the floor, engulfing all the Shadows except for Staff, still groggy. Blade sprinted out of the Cannon room and down the hallway, hoping he had remembered correctly how to get back to the docking bay.

"Hey, a rooming buddy!" laughed RaGiff when he saw Knuckles holding Tails' unconscious and wounded body. "Good stuff out there Cassie-that mech wasn't so bad, was it?"  
"I didn't have any freaking clue what I was doing!" she breathed to him, more out of adrenaline exhaustion than physical exhaustion.  
"But you did fine! You beat 'em, didn't you?"  
"By the skins of our teeth," Sandrine said. "Sorry I couldn't be of more help Sonic."  
"You did alright," Sonic assured her. "I've never seen you fight before, so I didn't know what to expect."  
"Neither did I. Don't know if you've met me-I'm Knuckles. Knuckles the Echidna," he introduced himself, shaking her almost equally sized hand. "You're Tails' special friend, aren't you?" She simply nodded. "You did fine, but I bet I could show you some stuff—you know, one fellow echidna to another."  
"I haven't introduced myself either," said the mysterious man. "My name is Antony Sharper, ex member of the Affinity terrorist group. Don't freak out," he told them when he saw everyone jump away. "I've given up that part of my life. If there was any good in terrorism, we wouldn't have all been wiped out back on Earth."  
"So you came up here to take out Shadow since he killed off your whole gang?" Sonic asked.  
"Sort of. I was the only one to escape the base when it happened. I saw what was going on and as the doc opened the machine, I just left. Tell you the truth, I was scared as hell. Good reason, too. I just escaped a minute before the place went up in smoke. I hid until Shadow had left the scene and tried to find any survivors, but it was wishful thinking. I had seen what that thing could do, and I wasn't about to let it destroy anyone else."  
"So what happened on Earth?" questioned Cassie. She wanted to hear this.  
"I'm sorry, I don't have your name ma'am. If you don't mind?"  
"Cassandra O'Connell," she answered sadly as she recited her last name.  
"O'Connell?" Antony was surprised. "Are you…are you Leo O'Connell's wife, by any chance?" "Um…yes…Why, did you know him?"  
"Know him? I was a member of his battalion on Mobius"  
"SHARP!" cried RaGiff!  
"Griffin?"  
"Yeah man! I didn't think it was the same you!"  
"Oh my God, what the hell happened to you?"  
"Long story, man. But why'd you get involved with the Affinity?"  
Antony's expression fell. "No work after the wars. Needed the money, and this was the quickest way to get it. I realize now that it's probably the biggest mistake I've ever made."  
"Why didn't you just go catch some baddies like Bladeage, man?"  
"Actually, I did right after the 'accident.' I hooked up with Leo, who had just flown down to Earth to look after the situation, and we both took off for the Space Colony ARK."  
"What?" cried Cassie.  
Knuckles was amazed. So that wasn't Blade who attacked him…He was hoping it wasn't. But who was it? Maybe it was that sworded Shadow-but then why didn't he kill him? Or maybe, like Lianne and Tikal were suggesting, he was just going insane.  
"Yeah, that's where we figured Shadow was," continued Antony. But when the Earth got destroyed, he told me to fly here to warn the Mobian government, so-"  
"But Leo!" Cassie cut in. "WHAT HAPPENED TO LEO?" she shouted, shaking Antony back and forth.  
"Ca-a-al-lm-down, miss!" he said, his voice being altered as she rocked him. "Leo was still on the Space Colony last time I checked."  
"He's not dead?"  
"Not if he's still as good as I think he is, he's not."  
"Oh thank God…" And Cassie passed out onto the edge of RaGiff's hospital bed from emotional fatigue.  
"OWWWW!" cried RaGiff. "Leg, LEG!"


End file.
